Wind from an Enemy Sky: Analysis of Major Characters
"Wind from an Enemy Sky" explores the complexities of cultural conflict and identity through its major characters, primarily within a fictional Native American tribe, the Little Elks. The narrative centers around Bull, the tribe's chief, who fiercely protects his people's traditions and sacred lands from the encroachment of white settlers. His brother, Henry Jim, represents a contrasting path, having assimilated into white culture, leading to estrangement from Bull and a loss of traditional values. Antoine, Bull's grandson, embodies hope for reconciliation, returning from a boarding school equipped with the language skills necessary to act as a bridge between the two cultures, yet this role comes with its own challenges.
Other significant characters include Adam Pell, the dam's designer, whose misguided "help" for Indigenous peoples reflects a patronizing attitude, culminating in tragic misunderstanding and violence. Rafferty, the Indian agent, stands out as a more sympathetic figure, genuinely attempting to understand and advocate for the Little Elks, yet ultimately fails to prevent tragedy. The Boy, also known as Son Child, embodies the struggle of navigating dual identities, caught between loyalty to his heritage and the realities of living in a white-dominated world. Pock Face, a younger character, illustrates the generational rift and confusion, as he grapples with his identity amid cultural expectations. Collectively, these characters illustrate the profound and often painful impact of cultural misunderstanding and the challenges of maintaining identity in the face of external pressures.
Wind from an Enemy Sky: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: D'Arcy McNickle
First published: Ortadirek, 1960 (The Wind from the Plain, 1963); Yer demir, gok bakir, 1963 (Iron Earth, Copper Sky, 1974); Olmez otu, 1968 (The Undying Grass, 1977)
Genre: Novel
Locale: The northwestern United States
Plot: Historical realism
Time: First half of the twentieth century
Bull, the chief of the fictional Little Elk tribe. He has kept his band in the mountains, isolated from the white men who have invaded the land below. At the novel's beginning, Bull takes his grandson to see a hydroelectric dam that has been constructed in a meadow that was sacred to the Little Elk people. When he realizes that the white men have “killed the water,” he shoots, ineffectually, at the dam. Bull knows that talking to the white men is of no use—the two cultures cannot understand each another, even when they know the meaning of the individual words.
Henry Jim, Bull's brother, who decided to live among the white men thirty years earlier. He believed that assimilating into their culture was the way to survive. In an effort to lead the people away from the old ways, he gives the Featherboy bundle, the Little Elks' most sacred object, to a “dog-faced” minister who sells it to a museum. As a result, he and Bull have not talked to one another for three decades. By the novel's end, he has moved out of the nice house the white men had built for their “prize Indian” and is living in a tipi on his farm. He has even forgotten the English language, an indication of his total rejection of the white culture.
Louis, Bull's other brother, who has stayed in the mountain camp with Bull. He distrusts white men completely, although he can tolerate Rafferty, whom The Boy says “talks pretty good,” which means that he listens as well as speaking, a quality Louis appreciates.
Antoine, Bull's grandson, who has just returned from the Indian boarding school in Oregon. In coming back to the mountains, he is returning to his traditional heritage, but he comes back knowing the English language. This means that he will become an interpreter, allowing interaction between his grandfather's people and the white people below, an important element in the novel. At the novel's end, only Antoine holds any hope for a future, but it is a future his grandfather would not have wished.
Adam Pell, the man who designed the dam. He has made a “hobby” of Indians and has traveled the world “helping” Indian people. For example, he went to Peru to help descendants of the Incas, who he says were the world's greatest engineers, build a dam. He also is the director of the Americana Institute, the museum that purchased the Featherboy bundle and allowed it to be chewed to pieces in the museum's basement. He thinks he knows “these people,” but he eventually is stunned by his own lack of understanding. When Pock Face kills Pell's nephew, Pell begins to understand the enormity of his own actions, but he still does not understand all that he believes he does. He attempts to give Bull and his people a sacred object from another culture, one made of “valuable” gold, in lieu of the destroyed Featherboy bundle. Later, when Bull shoots him, he dies with a surprised look on his face.
Rafferty, the Indian agent, the one white man in the novel for whom the Indians have any regard. He tries to help them and to understand them, and he tries to let Pell and his nephew know why the Indians are upset by the desecration of their sacred objects and the land. When the meeting he arranged turns into a fiasco as a result of Pell's ignorance, Rafferty, along with Pell, is shot by Bull.
The Boy, whose Indian name is Son Child, the tribal police for the area. He is torn between worlds. He loves and respects Bull and his people, but he lives in a white man's world and is a cog in the machinery of the white world. His Indian name was translated into English as The Boy, a significant change. He is a strong, understanding man, not a “boy,” as the white world would have it. When Bull shoots Pell and Rafferty, Son Child does his duty and shoots the chief. He says, “Brother! I have to do this!” before putting a bullet into Bull's heart, a bullet Bull does nothing to resist.
Pock Face, an angry young man caught between worlds. He wears cowboy boots and “can talk about horses like a white man.” He listens to what the elders say, but without hearing. His shooting of Pell's nephew is the result of a misunderstanding on both sides.